


Rule of Three

by CrystalVolcheck



Category: Penguins of Madagascar
Genre: Human AU, M/M, OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-19
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:09:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23728099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrystalVolcheck/pseuds/CrystalVolcheck
Summary: Whoever had said that you couldn't miss something that you never had had never fallen in love. After a rough mission and even rougher homecoming return, Kowalski has had a major revelation involving Feelings* which is great! Except that he's fallen for someone who is already spoken for.
Relationships: King Julien XIII/Kowalski, King Julien XIII/Rico, Kowalski/Rico (Madagascar)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 19





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, this is super different from anything I've written before and I'm honestly not sure how well it will be received since this an OT3 fic between Rico/Kowalski/Julien. Which is why the title is Rule of Three despite it being in only two parts. This fic also contains some m/m mature content, which is another huge first for one of my fics. It's not explicit and only lasts about 500 words so it really is a small fraction of the fic as a whole, but I have it marked between asterisks *** in case anyone wants to skip through it, but I like to think my asexual ass handled it tastefully.

Kowalski had been fine with the idea of a party to celebrate their return to New York, in fact, he had even welcomed it, despite it being well known that he was not particularly fond of loud, alcohol-filled revelries. Their last mission had been a disaster, someone had leaked their mission information and they had walked into a trap. Of course, Alice had not been pleased about nearly losing some of CENTRAAL's best assets and even less pleased that it was an inside job. When they were all deemed stable enough to be shipped back to New York they had been granted able recovery time and a guarantee that until the leak was plugged, they would not be sent on any field missions.

Not that any of them cared about having an extended break from the field, they were still focused on the fact that they had been lucky enough to walk away from a trap they were not meant to walk away from. He was still struggling to shake the image of Private's twisted ankle and shredded leg. And at times he still swore he could hear the agonizing pop/crunch of Rico's shoulder dislocating in the mad scramble to leave no man behind has the building collapsed around them. He could even perfectly recall the fear in Skipper's eyes as he tried to stop the bleeding from a wound where shrapnel tore into his leg too close to his femoral artery for Kowalski to be comfortable with. The sensation of warm blood on his hands brought had too many bad memories and he had passed out from neglecting his own injures wondering if Private had managed to get out.

Waking up in the hospital of one of CENTRAAL's bases had changed something in all of them. Maybe it was a new appreciation for each other or a new appreciation for the people in their lives, either way, the second Marlene and Julien began discussing a massive welcome party during a group chat as they were gathered around Private's bed as best as they could, a small part of him had been looking forward to it.

But now a sigh escaped Kowalski as he looked around the room. Their homecoming was far calmer than expected and he suspected that Maurice had been a voice of reason that even if they were holding it at Julien's club, it did not have to be Julien's usual party scene. In a way, the softness punctuated just how close they came to not coming home at all and it showed with how everyone had rushed together, but slowly drifted off in smaller, more intimate groups.

He checked his phone to see if Doris had responded to his text since she had declined his invitation to come to The Groove. He had hoped that it would give him a chance to mend his and Doris's shaky relationship and clear the air between them. That he'd be able to ask her face to face what she had seen that he hadn't.

When their romantic relationship had fizzled out weeks if not months before the mission, Doris had ended it by cruelly citing that he was clearly already in love with someone else. That had shaken something in him, leaving him feeling like something was broken inside, because he knew on some level, she was right, but he didn't want to accept it.

He had confessed it quietly to Private one night, after the breakup and after a few drinks that he didn't think he had ever loved Doris, merely loved the idea of her. That he had only ever wanted to feel normal in someway after spending all his life as an outcast. Then he had gone so far as to admit that he had struggled with being able to find any of the women he had dated sexually attractive- that he had recognized that they were attractive, but they didn't do anything for him. Not like that one drunken kiss he had with a very male stranger one New Year's Party and that it hadn't so much been that that fact that it was a man, but the strange feeling that he had known the man in some intimate way. Private, of course, had been understanding and assured him that there was nothing wrong with him and more that there was something wrong with the expectations for men and women and too often people broke themselves to fit into molds that shouldn't exist in a first place. It was nice to hear that he was not, in fact, broken as he believed.

Yet, that broken piece continued to rattle around inside.

It hadn't been until the mission, until he watched Rico disappear under rubble and Skipper had dragged him away as he screamed until his voice failed, until he drifted into consciousness with Rico's name on his until he watched Rico's face light up when he walked into his hospital room, and until he really saw Rico's face light up when Julien answered the video call after one ring that the little broken piece he had been feeling floating around his chest had clicked into place.

Kowalski put his phone back in his pocket and looked around the room. Closer to the center of the room, where Julien had deemed a conversation pit straight from the 70s as the best option for a lounge area, Private had collected a small entourage. Roy and Bing were eagerly catching him up on what he had missed from the Lunacorn's current season while J.J and the rest of his siblings worked hard to cover any blank spaces left on Private's cast. It seemed they were particularly taken with coloring in the surprisingly accurate drawing of Princess Self-Respectra that Rico had done several days ago when they were still waiting to get released for travel. Of course, M.D. along with Phil and Mason were close-by ready to intervene should any of the kids get too rowdy.

However, those gathered at the bar, where Maurice continued to mix and serve drinks had either already greeted the team or like Burt and Roger were waiting for a better opportunity to do so, not wanting to intrude on more private conversations such as where Skipper and Marlene sat at a small table across one another talking in hushed tones with their hands clasped together.

It was so unlike their usual boisterous selves that snarked and ribbed each other in a never-ending battle of the sexes that Kowalski almost found it hard to believe that it was Skipper and Marlene. Yet, Marlene had broken down to tears the second she had laid eyes on them when they had entered The Groove, not unlike the first time Skipper had video called her after getting out of surgery. But this time they had been able to touch each other, and she had run to Skipper without hesitation, throwing her arms around him and continuing to cry into the side of his neck.

Of course, that reunion hadn't been the only one full of tears, but it did take center stage compared to Rico and Julien's, who had come together in the background. Kowalski had nearly missed it, caught up in the always surprising to see the softer side of Skipper, but he had caught a glimpse of Julien sprinting to Rico only to fall short at the sight of the shoulder sling. It had been mesmerizing to watch, it had been like the two had slipped into slow motion as Julien approached Rico, unsure what to do and not wanting to inadvertently hurt him. Under the dimmed lights, Kowalski had caught a glimpse of tears on Julien's face before Rico wiped them away with his free hand and tilted his head down ever so slightly to kiss the former king. Of course, Kowalski looked away before he saw the kiss and was then quickly swept up into a conversation with Maurice and Roger about what happened and how long they were going to be out of commission.

Now, Kowalski wasn't sure what had happened to the pair since then and wasn't sure if he wanted to linger on that thought for too long. He stood and slipped over to a darkened corner that hid the stairs that went up to Julien's even more hidden living quarters and a private balcony that was the best place to sneak a cigarette or two.

He had just reached the top of the stairs when he heard a burst of laughter coming from the end of the hall. Light spilled through the thin slats of the double doors that lead to Julien's bedroom that was at the end of the hallway. It answered the previous question of where the pair had disappeared and was probably a sign that he should probably forget about having a cigarette and head back downstairs to the party. He has always enjoyed talking to Burt and Mason.

And yet, he continued to walk down the hall and logically he should have turned right to go out on the balcony, but instead, he crept closer to the double doors listening for the quiet murmur to grow into something understandable.

 ******* "-ish we had more time, so I could really take you apart, and show you how much I missed you." Julien's voice grew clear and Kowalski could make out some movement through the slats. He leaned closer and saw Rico sprawled across the bed in a state of semi-undress. His t-shirt was pushed up as far as it could go with the shoulder sling and his jeans were still around his knees while Julien straddled him wearing a loose knee-length skirt.

Kowalski's breath hitched at the sight and every brain cell he had screamed at him to walk away when Julien leaned down and kissed Rico deeply.

"You're beautiful," Julien practically purred when he pulled away for a moment. Then he was cupping Rico's jaw and pressing a kiss to the scar on the corner of his mouth as his other hand ran down Rico's chest to his abdomen, but not dipping quite low enough. In turn, Rico squeezed Julien's hip with his free hand and tried to grind up into the other man.

Even at a distance through the thin slats, Kowalski could see how flushed Rico had become under Julien's teasing touches and he vaguely wondered how long the two had been at this. Rico's lips parted as if to deny the previous statement, but instead, a soft groan escaped with a deliberate roll of Julien's hips giving him the friction he desired.

Kowalski's throat tightened and he felt his mouth go dry as he continued to watch Julien trail kisses down Rico's neck as far as he could with the t-shirt in the way. He had always been aware that Rico was attractive and to some degree, he knew that he found Rico attractive, but seeing him so vulnerable and watching him coming undone, well he couldn't help but agree with what Julien had said; Rico was beautiful. And the longer watch he couldn't help but think that both of them were beautiful.

"I love the sounds you make for me," Julien whispered against Rico's golden skin, now pressing a line of kisses down the thick vertical scar that ran down his chest. "I've missed hearing them."

Kowalski watched with interest as Julien traced the scar to where it stopped just above Rico's belly button and then continued down to stop at the waistband of Rico's boxer briefs. The floor creaked beneath his heel as he shifted to press a hand against his own growing arousal, but the sound went unnoticed. Kowalski wasn't sure if he wanted to be in Rico's position or Julien's as the royal heir mouthed at Rico's erection through the fabric.

Just as Rico arched into the touch, Kowalski palmed himself and stifled a groan into the crook of his arm and froze in horror as Julien sat up and threw a glance toward the door **.*****

He could see Rico say something, but his voice was so uncharacteristically soft and quiet that he couldn't make out what had been said. Whatever had been said was answered with a shake of the head and soft lingering kiss to lips that left Kowalski aching.

As the kiss broke, Julien whispered something against Rico's lips. Whatever it was prompted Rico to take Julien's hand and press it against his chest over his heart. He could see that Rico was speaking, but he could only guess what he was saying to Julien. The mood had shifted entirely and it struck Kowalski, as he watched Rico press a kiss to the back of Julien's hand as they laid together talking in hushed tones, that he had almost watched his best friend have sex and suddenly the flare of arousal and desire went out. He had intruded on an intimate moment. No. He had consciously decided to intrude on an intimate moment.

Despite how subconscious his actions had felt, Kowalski couldn't help but be ashamed of his actions and his stomach burned with regret. There was a part of him the knew exactly why he had ignored every instinct to turn away and leave the things behind closed doors alone.

Ever since Doris had pointed out that they could never work because he was already emotionally involved with someone else and ever since he had thought he had lost Rico on that mission, he hadn't been able to believe that he had in fact lost Rico, just in a way that Kowalski didn't realize he wanted him. And now as he made his way down the steps and out of The Groove, he knew that what he just saw made it real. Kowalski had lost Rico to Julien before had even managed to realize that he had wanted him.

 _Whoever had said that you couldn't miss something that you never had_ , Kowalski thought bitterly, _had never fallen in love._


	2. Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At 3,5700 words I realized that I was going to have to split the end into two parts, (there’s like at least another 2,000 to go.) Anyway, I'm not super happy with part 2, but I think it's nice to have moments where you remember that even the most beloved characters can make some really, really, poor decisions.

Kowalski threw the Psychotron, a name he would have to change if the dirty look Private _and_ Skipper, had given him earlier was any indicator of it being in bad taste, down on his workbench with more force than was strictly necessary. He supposed it didn't matter since the whole thing was fried anyway. He'd have to start over from scratch assuming that he'd even be able to figure out what had gone wrong. He looked at the blueprints on the other side of the workbench and slumped in his chair in defeat. The Psychotron had been the closest thing to a breakthrough in the last two weeks and a shot at finally figuring out what game Rico and Julien were playing.

Ever since the party, it seemed like Julien had taken to hanging around their building with increasing frequency. If Rico was helping him in the lab he often stayed, declaring himself supervisor, which on one level was enjoyable since he and Julien had started building a tentative friendship after the whole Jiggles incident and Julien always expressed interest in his inventions. Sometimes he was even willing to offer his assistance as an extra set of hands if needed and it was nice, even if he couldn't anticipate what would be needed like Rico could.

It was interesting how Rico was a calming presence in the lab that helped him focus when his mind was overclocked, while Julien was an invigorating one that pushed away the thoughts of doubt and challenged him to push through a block instead of giving up. He truly had begun to enjoy Julien's company and saw how it had been easy it must have been for Rico to fall for him. So incredibly easy that Kowalski found himself struggling with the idea that Rico was no longer the only one he had feelings for.

Of course, that matter hadn't been helped by his mind constantly going back to what he had watched at The Groove. Only instead of feeling shameful jealously believing that Rico had been taken from him he had begun to imagine what it would be like to have been the center of attention between the two men and instead longed to feel even a fraction of the love that those two held for each other.

It was a longing that had been made worse in the last week by the fact that Julien seemed to have taken to flirting with him. He had tried to bring it up to Rico the other day, hoping to figure out if he had only been imagining that Julien was flirting with him. He had fully expected Rico to assure him that it was just Julien's flirtatious personality and he was just misinterpreting things. What he hadn't expected was for Rico to laugh and respond with, "why wouldn't he be?" followed by a playful wink.

And just the other day he had accidentally walked in on them making out in in the jumbo bean bag Rico had in his studio and had been asked if he wanted to join in. At the time he had been too flustered to come up with a coherent response and fled embarrassed. But looking back on it filled him with anger and hurt. He couldn't help but wonder if they somehow figured out that he had watched them that night or that he had developed feelings for both of them and were now getting their kicks by teasing him with what they couldn't have.

Logically, he knew Rico couldn't be that intentionally cruel towards him, but emotionally the thought stung. Of course, confronting them about it was out of the question because if they were still unaware of his accidental voyeurism, the last thing he wanted to do was have them know. Kowalski buried his face in his hands tired of the deep loathing that burned in his chest.

The door to his lab swung open minutes later startling him and he turned, expecting Skipper, ready to argue that he wasn't about to attempt to recreate Jiggles, but froze seeing Julien instead. "Rico isn't here," Kowalski stated the obvious expecting Julien to leave and continue his quest to find his boyfriend.

"Yeah, I know. He had something with Marlene about art or whatever," Julien replied perching on the worktable like he belonged there. "I had a question and you're supposed to be like a major smarty-pants guy, right?"

Despite himself, Kowalski snorted in mild amusement, "If you want to say that major smarty-pants guy is an accurate synonym for genius then-"

"What is this supposed to be?" Julien interrupted grabbing the Psychotron and striking what he felt was a super sexy spy guy pose and causing several blueprints to fall on to the floor. "Is it like crazy dangerous? Oh! Like a ray gun that could melt your brain, instantly?

Despite the outlandishness of the statement, Kowalski couldn't help but smile and recalled his early thoughts about Julien's effect on him. "No, nothing like that, but that maybe something I have to look into. It was supposed to be a device that would allow you to hear a person's thoughts."

"That's amazing! "Julien turned the device over in his hands, noticing that it was cracked and burned in several places. "But I take it something went not, so right?"

"One could say that. It overheated despite a more than adequate cooling system..." Kowalski trailed off and watched with some amusement as Julien began to take apart the device with his fingers where it was most damaged. The quiet moments where the young prince showed his softer side always made him uncomfortable. It felt like those were moments that should be reserved for someone on a more intimate ground with Julien, such as Rico and it always left an acidic taste in his mouth as he thought back to another moment between the two that he had stolen. He didn't have the right to see this side of Julien. He looked at the original blueprints and shrugged away any more invading thoughts, "it could have been a faulty circuit board, but I've -"

"Or it was too big," Julien remarked growing bored with the broken invention and setting it back onto the table. "Although in my experience there isn't such a thing as too big."

"Wait, say that again."

With a raised eyebrow Julien regarded Kowalski with open curiosity, "in my experience, there isn't such a thing as too big?"

"No," Kowalski shook his head and tried not to think about the clear innuendo and implications of Julien's comment, "before that."

"It was… too… big?"

"Yes! That must be it!" Kowalski stood grabbing a stray screwdriver and began taking the device apart to access the circuit board. He could feel the heat of Julien's body as the prince leaned over his shoulder to get a better look and noticed that the faint citrus scent was the same one that often clung to Rico. With a small cry of victory, he pulled the ruined circuit board free and compared it to the blueprint calculations. "That's why it overheated, I had to use a larger circuit board than I had originally planned and forgot to account for the loss of space!" Kowalski turned, and lowered his voice as he realized that he was nearly nose with Julien, "How did you figure it out?" Although he nearly voiced the other thought that ran through his mind; _Have your eyes always been that amber?_ Then he stepped back before he found himself staring at Julien's black-painted lips next.

"Eh, it was kinda a guess." Julien shrugged it off like it was no big deal. "I learned a little bit about how this sciencey stuff works in Madagascar." He shifted so he was sitting cross-legged on the workbench and facing Kowalski. "There was this scientist, his name was Timo. You remind me of him, he was super smart and always inventing all these cool things. Actually," Julien laughed to himself before continuing, "this one time he built a whole robot of Frank the Sky Spirit."

"Really?" Kowalski found his interest piqued and was eager to hear more. "Was it remote-controlled? Or more of a suit?"

Julien pursed his lips in thought for a moment before answering, "remote-controlled, later he made it so it could do everything by itself. But then it was super lame because acted like his mother, then again it did have some pretty sweet laser eyes."

"That's amazing! A fully autonomous android-I thought we were still years away from achieving such success."

"Oh, yeah, Timo made some of the most amazing things. They didn't always work, but I always thought it was really cool that he could take something that was in his head and make it real. I think you make cooler stuff through, like an invention like that" Julien pointed at the Psychotron, "probably would have been helpful in keeping me from getting exiled."

"Exiled?"

"It was a whole thing," The jangling multitude of bangles and bracelets seemed extraordinarily loud as Julien waved off the question. "Long story shortened, I thought I made a friend, got betrayed, lost my kingdom, nearly died several times and went to war to get my kingdom back."

"Julien, that's awful," Kowalski hesitated as it struck him just how little he really knew about Julien from the years he had known him. The last few weeks had felt like he was getting to know Julien for the first time. Before he had only caught glimpses into how Rico and Julien made sense as a couple, but it was becoming clear how much the two had in common and how little he had in common with them. "I mean, I know your uncle had tried to kill you and that's part of why you had to leave, but I didn't realize that you had actually lost your whole kingdom before."

"I'm fine with it now, I have to be, but I thank the Sky Spirits every day for each day I get. Besides, it doesn't help to get stuck on the past all the time. Even though it can be crazy hard," Julien's expression softened into something akin to melancholy, "I've seen Rico have enough bad days, but he's softer than he likes to show, you know?"

"I know," Kowalski answered softly, he hadn't seen Rico have any bad days in a long time and it hadn't occurred to him that he was simply no longer the one Rico turned to on those bad days. Not when he had Julien who seemed to have a far better understanding of how hard it was to let go of a painful past. He couldn't help but wonder if the revelation he had had in The Groove a few weeks ago had come before Rico and Julien's relationship had started to form or if it occurred in the beginning stages, that things between him and Rico would be far different. But Kowalski couldn't let himself linger on what-ifs and tried to steer the conversation back to the initial discovery. "Still, I could see how this could have been helpful. Especially since I was hoping CENTRAAL could use it to figure out who leaked our mission."

"Do you think you'd be able to rebuild it?"

"Easily, the real problem that I don't have a small enough circuit board," Kowalski then added slightly embarrassed, "and I kind of already blew my budget for the whole quarter."

"Hmm," Julien hummed and looked at the device, "how small do you think this circuit board would have to be?"

"It could be fairly smaller, in fact, if I could get an even smaller one than planned, I could cut down on some of the bulk of the device-make it less obvious that you're practically holding a satellite dish."

"I see," there was an almost sexual undertone to Julien's words. "Would something like this work?" Julien pulled a small hand-held game console out of his pocket and offered it to Kowalski, whose eyes lit up in delight.

Kowalski took the console from Julien and flipped it over in his hands a few times. "Is would actually be perfect, and I could scale everything down."

"Then it's yours." Julien slid off the workbench accomplishing what he originally came in the lab for.

"Wait," Kowalski tried to pass the hand-held back to Julien, "I can't just take this."

"Yes," Julien insisted taking hold of Kowalski's hands to prevent him from giving the toy back, "you can take it because I'm giving it to you."

"But I know how much one of these costs, it wouldn't be right to just take it."

"Trust me you'd be doing me a favor by taking that stupid piece of plastic junk," Julien started and figured he could at least be honest about why he wanted to get rid of it. "I took it from Mort because he was always on it. Normally, I don't mind him not being a pest, but it started to affect his grades. I figured that he could cry over it for a few days and once his grades turned around, I'd take him shopping to buy a new one."

On one level that made sense, but Kowalski didn't understand why Julien had to get rid of the handheld and found himself asking the obvious question, "Why wouldn't you just hide it?"

"Because Sky Spirits know that no matter how well I would hide it, the little freak would find it. And nothing, I mean nothing deters him from looking in a place he probably shouldn't." Julien internally winced at the time Mort had gone through the forbidden private drawer that he always kept locked. He still hadn't figured out how Mort got to the key, let alone knew where it was. "If you're trying to keep something from him, he will find it. I don't know how he does it, so I have to make it disappear."

Kowalski looked down at the device again but found his eyes lingering on where Julien was still holding his hands. Swallowing thickly, Kowalski shook his head, "I still don't feel right accepting this in exchange for nothing."

Julien grinned wickedly and leaned towards Kowalski, his fingers curling around the man's wrists. He could see the flush starting to spread across Kowalski's fair skin and felt the slightest hitch in his breathing as his lips nearly brushed against Kowalski's as he whispered, "who said it would be in exchange for nothing?"

"Julien, I-" Kowalski stammered, feeling the hot flush spreading across his face. His skin was practically buzzing, and Julien was so close all he would have to do is tilt his head forward and- Julien closed the distance and kissed him so softly that for a moment Kowalski thought he had hallucinated it. But no, Julien had kissed him. Julien had—

The handheld clattered to the floor as Kowalski pushed Julien away and fled the lab feeling overwhelmed and trapped. He rushed up the stairs, ignoring the confused looks from the team. It didn't register in his mind that Rico had been coming through the front door as he made his way to the roof to process what had happened.

Kowalski was on his third cigarette when he heard the door open, but he didn't need to look to know that it was either Rico, Julien, or both. Regardless it prompted him to put the cigarette out knowing how much Rico hated his smoking habit. When Rico stood on his right and Julien on his left, he found himself asking, "Come to tease me some more?"

Kowalski didn't miss the way Julien flinched at the question and at least had the audacity to look ashamed.

"I'm sorry," Julien's voice was soft, "I guess I didn't realize that I was taking things too far."

"Taking things to far? You kissed me!" Kowalski shouted, voice going shrill turning to look at Julien in disbelief. "You're in a relationship and you kissed me! Did you ever stop to think about—" Kowalski felt sick as he remembered that Rico was right behind him. Rico who seemed completely fine with the fact that his boyfriend had kissed someone else, who had for weeks been unbothered by Julien's flirting, who had even joined in with it. Kowalski grabbed the newfound information and tried to apply logic to it, but he could only come up with one answer. "Look, I don't know how you two figured it out, but nothing was ever going to come from it. I care too much about Rico to ever want to hurt him and Julien, I've really started to care about you as well and I know how happy you make each other. But what I really don't get is why you thought it'd be funny to flirt with me knowing I have a crush on you."

"I wasn't flirting with you to be funny," Julien explained and shared a knowing look with Rico, who hadn't exactly been happy to find out what Julien had done. Rico had warned him about going too far, but he hadn't wanted to listen. "I was flirting with you because I like you."

"What?" Kowalski asked in disbelief. "But aren't you and Rico still together?"

"Yes, but my heart is big enough for two. Besides Rico's been in love with you for years. After the mission, he had brought up telling you but felt like he'd be betraying me."

"Rico, is that true?"

"Yeah," Rico looked at him shyly. "Why'd you think I used to flirt with you?"

Kowalski flushed remembering very clearly the days when Rico used to flirt with him and how that had been a factor in his lament over what could have been, "oh."

"I told him," Julien started, referring to Rico, "that I would be open to an open relationship, but he didn't believe you'd be interested and the more I got to know you, I more I believed that he was right. It wasn't until recently that we started to think otherwise."

"What happened that made you think otherwise?" Kowalski asked despite feeling like he already knew the answer.

"We saw you," Rico answered, then clarified further turning slightly red, "outside the bedroom."

"You saw me?"

"I had the camera view of the hallway pulled up on my tablet in case anyone came looking for us and when we saw it was you coming, we kinda liked the idea of letting it play out," Julien explained as he and Rico shared a quick look before Rico took Julien's hand, encouraging him to continue, "after you stayed for as long as you did, we started talking about the possibilities of adding you to the relationship. Of course, I had to test the waters myself since I'm not known for sharing."

Kowalski still couldn't quite wrap his mind around what they were saying. "So, all the flirting?"

"Was my way of testing the waters," Julien answered confirming Kowalski's theory now that everything was coming to light.

Kowalski shook his head, still upset that he had been hating himself for weeks over what happened at The Groove only to hear that they had wanted him to see them. "I'm just having a hard time imaging that both of you are interested in me and this isn't some elaborate prank."

"I suppose we-" Rico nudged Julien and prince corrected himself, "or I rather could have handled it better, but I feel like you should know that it was easy to fall for you. You're smart, passionate, funny, and I've seen the way you've cared for Rico and have worried about your team. You care deeply, but don't let it get the best of you logically or at least you try to. Anyone would be lucky to have you as a part of their life. Look, nothing as to come from this, but I really am sorry for what I did in the lab. It wasn't fair to you."

"Kowalski reached and took one of Julien's hands and one of Rico's and gave each a gentle squeeze of reassurance. Already he knew he wasn't truly angry with either of them because logically he knew that Julien was just that impulsive and tended to think all ideas were good ideas and Rico was naturally a follower who didn't always push back on orders because he'd grown up learning that pushback was met with death. Just like he often felt the need to doubt and question everything, he needed to look over all the evidence and analyze every angle. "I need some time to process everything you said, but" Kowalski started and felt his stomach twist, some gut instinct that he couldn't read but was afraid to ignore, "I think we're going to have a lot to talk about and even more to figure out."


	3. Part 3

_Beep beep beep Kowalski blindly reached for the alarm above his ahead fumbling for a moment before_ he managed to turn it off. With the alarm silenced he could make out the soft grumble of complaints from his right and on the left felt the arm that had been slung over his waist tighten around him.

"Es Domingo," Rico's voice was sleep rough as he muttered the words into Kowalski's shoulder, clearly not ready to get up if the lack of English was anything to go by. “Ugh, no quiero moverme,”

Kowalski chuckled, "I told you this would happen if I was in the middle. And just because we have the day off doesn't mean I can lay in bed all day."

"Yes, you can,” Julien chimed in eyes still closed as if he could still feign being asleep, “and as your king I'm ordering you to stay in this bed."

Kowalski couldn’t help rolling his eyes at the order, even if Rico sometimes indulged Julien’s commands and orders, that was something he firmly put his foot down on. “I have experiments to tend to."

Julien finally opened his eyes and raised an eyebrow at Kowalski, "and I don't? I think we need to repeat last night’s experiment to see if we get the same results.” He pressed a soft lingering kiss to Kowalski's lips and felt the full body shudder run through the other man. It hadn't taken him long to figure out that talking science in the bedroom had an effect on Kowalski.

“If we were to truly repeat that experiment then we’d have to follow the same conditions.” Kowalski argued after he broke the kiss, “which in this case it would have to be night rather than the morning.” 

"Nerds," Rico commented affectionately as he propped himself up on his elbow and watched them exchange several lazy kisses.

"So now you're awake," Kowalski teased Rico as he broke the kiss, but it was partially lost since at the same time Julien asked if Rico if he was jealous.

Rico merely hummed in response and leaned over meeting Julien halfway for a kiss of his own. Of course, one was never enough for Julien and they continued to kiss until they felt Kowalski shift under them.

Julien grinned at Rico, breaking the kiss, “I think he’s starting to feel forgotten.”

“Actually,” Kowalski started to sit up in the bed, only allowing Rico to get in a quick peck, “I was thinking about how I need to check on things in the lab, like the if the nanites new programming took.”

“Liar,” Rico argued as he stretched, feeling more awake than before, “still have an hour.” 

“But I stll have to walk back to HQ and I know what will happen if I let you two convince me to stay just even a little longer.”

“Ugh, why do you have to be so logical?” Julien groaned dramatically and fell back into the bed further preventing Kowalski from getting out, at least from that side. Rico had already slipped out of the covers and had started to look through the clothes scattered about the floor.

“Because someone has to in this relationship.” Kowalski responded as he took his boxers and pants from Rico and began to pull them on.

“Boo, you whore,” Julien jeered half-heartedly knowing how important the research was to Kowalski.

Kowalski sighed at the response and glared at Rico who was sliding back into the bed next to Julien. “You should have never introduced him to Mean Girls. He’s going to try to make fetch happen and it’s not going to happen.”

“We should totally watch that today.”

“There’s no reason we can’t once I get back and I should only be gone an hour, hour and a half at the most.” Kowalski would be lying if he said that he wasn’t tempted to rejoin his partners and leave the nanites to their own devices. Especially since this had been the first opportunity for all three of them to properly spend time together since he and Rico had resumed their usual training routine since the chance to start field missions again opened.

“Fine,” Julien pouted as Kowalski found his shirt and slipped his arms through the sleeves, “but it’s going to feel like forever, especially since I won’t be able to go back to sleep thanks to your stupid alarm.”

Kowalski shared a knowing look with Rico as he buttoned his shirt and stepped into his shoes, “Well, I’m sure you and Rico can find a way to entertain yourselves until I get back. I’ll see you in a bit.”

As he shut the door behind him, he could hear Julien’s voice, but he couldn’t quite make out what was being said. He did, however, hear Rico’s playful cry of “behave!” and couldn’t help but laugh quietly to himself. He could only imagine what would be awaiting him when he got back although there were only three possibilities of what he would return to.

He mused about those exact possibilities on his way to HQ, knowing that one possibility was that the two would be asleep in bed since Julien wasn’t one to get up early and Rico found it easy to fall asleep with someone next to him. The next possibility also involved the bed but did not involve any sleeping and Kowalski found himself walking a little faster at the thought. Then there was the possibility that Julien would convince Rico to make breakfast and they’d eat waffles covered in whip cream and fresh fruit while watching RuPaul’s Drag Race. And Kowalski was more than happy to walk into any of those possibilities.

The walk seemed shorter than usual as it dawned on Kowalski that he was already in front of their building. He slipped through the front door was and thankful that no one seemed to be up yet. The last few weeks had been interesting to say the least and it was far from an easy transition into what was dubbed a thruple. A task made slightly more difficult after the decision to be upfront about the relationship with the team and their closest friends. Private had been supportive, as had Marlene, although she sometimes asked questions that were just a tad too personal. Skipper had been the wildcard and his lack of reaction was still a point of concern.

Although he did say that he’d need time to process it, Kowalski recalled as he pulled up his data on the nanites.

And while it was fair to say that it was a lot to process it added just a little bit more difficultly in navigating their relationship. Generally speaking, Kowalski had fit into the arrangement rather easily. He and Rico had a history that made it easy to figure out how things would work between them, but Rico and Julien had been a couple long before he came into the picture so there were certain established quirks that needed worked around.

It was far from perfect, communication was a sticking point for all three of them to one degree or another and it taken some time to get used to creating a system to determine when, if, and how to bring it up if something wasn’t working.

Speaking of not working, Kowalski noted that the nanite upgrade hadn’t took and if anything, it had overloaded and fried them. A wave of frustration washed over him, but it didn’t last. He had known the odds of a success were slim and he was trying to take Julien’s optimism to heart that he hadn’t failed, he merely found what didn’t work. It seemed silly at first but, it seemed to be helping him cope with experimental disasters. Kowalski had been so wrapped up in his thoughts that it didn’t register that the door to his lab was swinging open.

“I take it Rico decided to sleep in?” Skipper asked from the doorway looking like the cat that got the canary as he watched Kowalski jump and let out a yelp of surprise.

“You could say that,” Kowalski flushed with embarrassment. “I was just wrapping up my notes on the nanites’ upgrade,” he explained as he jotted down his last note and set the clipboard down on the workbench.

“I don’t need the whole story, but I am glad I caught you before you left. There are some things I think we need to talk about. Think your boyfriends will survive a bit longer without you?” Skipper asked the question feeling like it didn’t belong on his tongue.

Kowalski’s good mood vanished. “I’m sure they’ll find ways to keep themselves entertained, “he joked nervously as followed Skipper to the living room after shutting the lab door behind him. “This wouldn’t happen to be about my relationship would it? I know that Rico and I are breaking policy-”

Skipper chuckled, “I could give a rat’s ass about no inter-personnel dating. It the rule everyone breaks but pretends they don’t. But what I have to say is related to your new relationship status. You know when you first told me, it was a lot to process and I know I said I was okay with it, but now that I’ve really processed it….”He trailed off trying to figure out just where to go with the conversation.

“Sir?” Kowalski asked recalling all to clearly how Skipper had handled the news of Rico and Julien’s relationship.

“Look, I’m not going to pretend to understand the whole three-way relationship you have going on with Rico and Julien and quite frankly I rather not know the details.” Skipper’s expression softened, “I just want to know that what you have is more than your standard ménage à trois. Relationships are messy enough between two people and I’m worried that either you’re the one who is going to get hurt with this or that you’re the one who’s going to do the hurting.”

“Quite frankly Skipper, I am an adult as is-”

“I know, but you’re one of my men. You know how I thought it was understandable that when Rico got involved with Julien, I wanted to make sure that Julien wasn’t just using him. He’s suffered enough heartbreak in his twenty-odd years. That same concern extends to you as well as Private and will as long as you’re a part of my team.”

Kowalsk was stunned for a moment only touched, but then recalled the other part of Skipper’s earlier statement. “While I appreciate that I’m a little insulted that you’d think I’d inten—"

“I know you’d never intentionally hurt Rico,” Skipper cut him off again, “or Julien for that matter, and that they wouldn’t do it intentionally either. However, you have to look at it from my position. As long as I’ve known you, you have expressed an interest in women, a very strong interest in women. Then a few months after Doris breaks up with you, you end up not just romantically involved with one man, but two. Two men that were already in an established relationship. I just want to make sure that you’re not treating Rico and Julien’s relationship as some type of experiment or means to get over Doris.”

Kowalski’s jaw dropped at the audacity of the comment, but before he could say anything Skipper held up a hand and added, “And if they were here, I’d be asking them the same thing and wanting to make sure that they aren’t taking advantage of you just to spice things up in their own relationship. This isn’t meant to be an attack on any of you.”

"I suppose my actions seem rather alarming considering my history of preferences, but, if I may be frank, that was me trying to overcompensate for not being exclusively attracted to women." Kowalski wasn't going to go into the exact specifics of his newly discovered sexuality. "I had a bit of a revelation after Doris broke up with me and I did not expect things to go the way they did. But Skipper, I love Rico. I've been in love with him for years without realizing it. And as for Julien, I had no intention of falling for him or acting on my feelings for either of them. But they approached me and let me decide if it was something worth trying even if they’d be the ones getting hurt because they both go hearts first and brains second. It’s been weeks, actually months of figuring everything out and getting on the same page, but we make it because we all offer something that we don't have on our own or in pairs. So, while I appreciate the concern and recognize that my relationship is rather unorthodox, it’s not some temporary fling or experiment on any of our parts." Kowalski didn’t realize he had almost started shouting until he finished, and Skipper was looking at him with raised eyebrows.

"As I said,” Skipper started after a beat of silence, “I wasn't going to try to pretend that I understood how it worked, but it sounds like it does so I can be satisfied with that answer for now.”

“That answer isn’t going to change any time soon, sir,” Kowalski answered firmly, but the seriousness of the statement was partially lost by his phone going off in rapid succession. And the temptation to check his phone was too great to ignore.

“Then I suppose I won’t keep you any longer,” Skipper commented seeing the grin spread across his lieutenant’s face checked his phone. It was clearly the look of a man who was in love.“Just remember that we have training tomorrow at zero six hundred and that if you're not there on the dot, you're running two miles for every minute you're late."

Kowalski slipped his phone back in his pocket. “Understood sir,” he nodded before taking his leave but not before he caught Skipper’s cry of, ‘And tell His Royal Pain-in-the-Ass that Private is off limits!’

Once the door was shut Kowalski pulled out his phone again, pulling up the selfie Julien had sent of him eating fresh cut strawberries. In the background, he could make out Rico starting on the beginning of either French toast or waffles. Underneath the picture was a text, If you’re not back before the French toast is done we’re having breakfast in bed. Whipped cream included ;)

Kowalski responded with three simple letters and before putting his phone away and breaking into a light jog eager to return to his partners and tell them about Skipper's interrogation. He was half-way to The Groove when the rule of three occurred to him and he found himself laughing at what would have been the simplest explanation for how they worked. After all, the rule of three in its simplest form stated that a trio was more satisfying, or effective than other numbers.


End file.
